Citizens offer many ideas and opinions to fill TPS

If the turnout at the Sept.29 public hearing held by the Thomas Prince Middle School Enrollment Study Committee is any indication, citizens want to be very involved in decisions made about the future of the school.

More than 50 citizens attended the hearing to offer opinions and suggestions about how to solve the problem of declining enrollment at the school.

Ideas ranged from offering low income housing to draw younger families to the town, to turning the school into a magnet school, to busing kids from Rutland to boost the population in the elementary school, or enriching the curriculum to attract more out-of-town students.

From the outset of the meeting, Study Committee Chairman Larry Pistrang told the audience the goal of the hearing was to collect information, not to garner interactive conversation.

“We’ll have a public brainstorming session later this fall,” he said. “Our committee is committed to developing a recommendation in the next six months. There is no immediate threat to our school and won’t be for several years, but we can’t afford to do nothing until that day arrives,” he said.

A Leominster resident who had enrolled her child in TP kindergarten through school choice said she did so because she wanted her child to stay at TP through middle school and hoped it would still continue.

Some were confused about what happens regarding teachers at the middle school level and why they couldn’t continue to teach more than one subject at that grade level.

Thomas Prince School Principal Mary Cringan explained that under state law, teachers now must be certified in a certain subject to teach at the seventh/ eighth grade level.

Years ago, a teacher could get certified to teach any subject in grades K-8 but the state did away with the old certification rules, said Cringan.

“The state is now forcing teachers to become specialists in certain content area,” she said. Crigan said she is looking for teachers who have the old certification to teach multiple subjects or those with dual certification, because there are not many middle school teachers who are certified in three areas of teaching.

“We’re supposed to have 10 percent of our housing affordable,” he said. “Why can’t we override a vote that doesn’t allow that? It seems like people here with a lot of money don’t want low income housing here, but that would bring in more kids.”

“It’s outrageous to move here, especially for young families,” said Heather Archambeault of Beaman Road. Also not having before- and afterschool programs limit parents, she added.

“Are there just not enough children here, or are people sending there kids to other schools,” she asked. “If there aren’t enough, that’s a town problem, not a school problem.”

“I really urge this group to find a practical solution with a dollars and cents impact,” said Kathy Sweeney from Mirick Road. “Affordable housing won’t happen overnight and we’ve long said we don’t want affordable housing here.”

“I’ve heard this has always been a problem,” said Kathy Locke from Calamint Hill Road South. “Why can’t we open up the school to home schoolers, invite them to middle school?”

Connor Lane resident Steve Cullen called for more funds for teachers and more volunteers to improve the school to make it a “Go to school.”

“People won’t move here. What’s the attraction? There is no business, it’s not exactly kid friendly, there’s no place to work in town,” he said. “This isn’t just a school issue. It’s a town issue on many levels. We need to broaden our horizons, we need more businesses, more reasonable tax rates and affordable housing. You can’t keep spending and expect taxes to go down.”

“I think the town makes it difficult to move here with two acre zoning,” said Kelly Langford. “Maybe we should move it down to one acre.”

Sharon Olson from Houghton Road noted that Rutland has an excess of students in the younger grades. “Have we had any discussion about a cooperative agreement with them,” she asked. “There are too many kids there and not enough here.”

Other residents wanted clarification of what the town could do about the school within the district limits. Understanding the financial impacts of sending kids to Mountview and sharing the cost of a school in Holden were unknowns that some felt would make it difficult to make decisions. Sending kids to another town raised the question of how much time students would have to spend on a bus.

The committee listed all the suggestions and the questions raised at the meeting. Pistrang said a lot of the committee’s information is already on the town website.

“Communication will be the key,” he said. “We want you to participate. Contact us with ideas and talk with each other.”